diff --git a/packages/app-shell/src/app-shell.js b/packages/app-shell/src/app-shell.js
index bf2bab5e86cee6158b619e9105c0aa600d3100cc..5e582b4f847b61f9603f196a9ce8a877b21b9413 100644
--- a/packages/app-shell/src/app-shell.js
+++ b/packages/app-shell/src/app-shell.js
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ export class AppShell extends ScopedElementsMixin(DBPLitElement) {
     constructor() {
         super();
         this.lang = i18n.language;
+        this.languages = [];
         this.activeView = '';
         this.entryPointUrl = '';
         this.subtitle = '';
@@ -270,8 +271,12 @@ export class AppShell extends ScopedElementsMixin(DBPLitElement) {
      * @param {string} lang
      */
     updateLangIfChanged(lang) {
+        // if the language is switched to English then i18n.languages is ['en'], instead of ['en', 'de']
+        // so we are now only adding new ones to this.languages
+        this.languages = Array.from(new Set(this.languages.concat(i18n.languages)));
+
         // in case the language is unknown, fall back to the default
-        if (!i18n.languages.includes(lang)) {
+        if (!this.languages.includes(lang)) {
             lang = this.lang;
         }
         if (this.lang !== lang) {